'Then that's fine,' said Jane. 'Can we collect the horses in a day?'
'Good lord, no, it will take three full days. One to get up there, two and three to get back. You can't eat up the miles with three horses trailing behind you as you can with only two aboard.'
see. So' ... a slight pause ... 'we have to stop overnight.'
`Two nights. One is Sydney, one night on the way back.' He was looking in the children's direction with interest. `Harry did you well for lunch, I see.'
She noticed that he was eyeing the chocolate wrapper, which was a bright blue.
didn't mean to leave it there,' she assured him. `Nor' ... a throaty laugh ... 'did someone else.' `Someone else?'
`Don't move, Miss Sidney, but someone is about to take up that wrapper.'
`There's no chocolate left.'
`He doesn't want chocolate, in fact he wouldn't know what to do with it. He just wants blue.'
`Wants what?'
`Hush!' William Bower pointed, and, enchanted as the children had been with John's game, Jane watched.
It was a shining, blue-black bird what William was indicating, a glossy fellow with strikingly blue eyes. He did not appear to pay any attention to them, but, William said quietly, he would know they were there, he would have looked them over to see if they offered anything blue. For blue, Jane's boss informed her, was the bower-bird's obsession. He pointed out the almost compelled way the bird was approaching the chocolate wrapper, as though he must have that flash of blue.
`Mind your blue eyes, Miss Sidney,' he advised.
Because of the bird's absolute absorption they could speak to each other quite freely.
`Is it after this particular bird you named Bowers?' asked Jane.
`Actually, no, this is a more rare specimen, it's the Satin Bower-Bird, ours on the plateau is a more common variety. But I did call the place Bowers for the birds as well as for myself. I told you that. —Look, there he goes now.' The bird, having darted down and lifted the wrapper, flew off.
Do you know what,' said William, as excited as a boy,
reckon his bower is in that thicket of bushes. It will be away
from his nest—they commute from nest to bower. Shall we look for it?'
`Will he mind?'
`Perhaps we can leave him something.' He glanced at the blue ribbon with which Jane had tied back her damp hair.
She removed it and handed it to him, her still-wet honey strands falling to her shoulders. She followed him into the thicket.
They found the bower at once. The bird had flattened down the grass to make room for his treasures, and the little square opened up as they parted the growth.
It was like looking into a tiny Eastern market, except that instead of many colours, all the purloined things were blue. Blue flowers. A blue river pebble. A discarded blue pen. Actually a blue dart that must have been taken from some camp and been rather awkward to carry. The new blue chocolate wrapper.
`It's wonderful!' Jane looked with delight on the flexible twigs with their ends stacked against each other, making a clear passage beneath the interwoven sticks to the previous spot.
`He may be returning with a heavy load,' said William, `we'll not impede him.'
They stepped back. By the time they reached the river again, the twins were awake, and had to demonstrate their new art. Jane had intended to ask her employer to show the children the bower, but in their swimming pride, and her own pride for having helped achieve it, she forgot.
They went up to the plateau again, Roberta with William, Robert with Jane. As Jane went into the big house she met Maureen. The girl looked heavy-eyed today, all the sparkle of yesterday had left her. There was no 'My Fellow's Coming'. Kate was with her, and she loitered back when Maureen went off.
`Lovers' tiffs,' Kate sighed. 'I'm never going in for anything like that.'
`Sometimes it goes for you,' warned Jane.
`Well, it doesn't attract me. I think I'll settle for a borrowed family. Did Mr. Bower tell you I'll be taking over the twins and their swimming when you can't make it?'
`Yes. Thank you, Kate.'
`It'll be a change,' appreciated Kate. 'I've always loved the valley. I'm not a natural with horses, not like a strapper should be, I just took it on because I simply couldn't work at a desk and this was all that seemed offering. Well, I'll go and see to Maurie now. She and Rodden must have had a few words, because she never went out to the strip to wave him off again.'
`He's gone, then?'
`Oh yes.' Kate ran off, and, at a more leisurely pace, and in a much more relaxed state of mind, since Rodden Gair was no longer at Bowers, Jane followed.
The next morning, directly after breakfast, Jane and Willam left for Sydney. The three-horse float had been attached to the biggest of the Bower cars, and while the boss issued his stud orders for the next few days, Jane examined the float. Like all the Bower equipment it was ultra-modern and very functional. It also looked extremely comfortable. It was padded against bumps, roomy enough to let the passengers move away from each other, and weather-sound. Gretel, San Marco and Ruthven should enjoy a good trip down.
She waited beside the car and presently her employer joined her.
`Did you want to drive?' he asked.
`No.'
`You're entitled to, Miss Sidney. 'We're going after part of your possessions, so you have every right to see we arrive there safely to make the claim.'
`I believe we'll arrive safer in your hands—I don't know the road, remember.'
`It's a highway, once we get out of the valley.'
`How do we get out?' she asked.
'The track you take to the pool ... incidentally, the trio have already left ! ... then along the flats to the coast. It's not as easy with this big car as with the jeep or mini, but you'll call it simple after you climb up from the valley again towing a parcel of horses. Oh, well' ... releasing the brake ... 'it makes us more exclusive up on top.'
They conversed idly until they had left the plateau and descended the valley, but once they had left the river, the children already there swimming with Kate and waving gaily as they passed, Jane turned her attention to the scenery, for this, for her, was new country. It was timber-land for a while, with occasional hop breaks, acres of apples, then gradually the lessening hills fanned out and down to softly-rolling fields that ran right to the sea. Mostly they were pea fields, their clean bright green contrasting with the bluest ocean Jane had ever seen. The sand was a warm gold, a contrast, Jane's driver told her, to the north coast, where the sands were creamy pale.
William Bower told Jane a lot of things on that trip, snippets of history, facets of natural life, all the outdoor things Jane always had loved, and all told in that robust manner that only an outdoor man who loves them, too, can tell. He showed her that he could be very charming as well as interesting and informative. Lunch at a restaurant overlooking a small south coast harbour became an event, not just a necessary restorative en route.
It was only when the coffee came that he struck the first discordant note.
'You asked me what your share would be worth, Miss Sidney.'
'Yes.' Jane was looking out at a cornflower blue sea and at the moment couldn't have cared less.
'I've been going through these two consignments, reducing them to the dollar state.'
'Yes,' Jane said again.
'It's not easy to give an accurate figure, one never knows with horseflesh if one has a champ or a miss.'
This time Jane murmured 'No', still looking at the sea. `Gretel could prove a likely brood mare. Has she foaled much?'
`Once only. Quite successfully. A fine little girl ... I mean a filly.'
see.' His face did not alter at Jane's slip. He had taken out a notebook and he put down some figures.
`San Marco,' he said presently, know already. According to racing news I've had sent out from England the fellow has a few country wins to his credit.'
`Yes, San Marco can sprint.'
&n
bsp; `There's no reason why he shouldn't do it here.' `He likes soft going,' warned Jane.
think you're trying to tell me he's a country horse—but your kind of country.'
was. I didn't mean any disparagement, I think I would love the country here. But not San Marco.'
`That's all right,' William Bower assured her, 'because, believe it or not, we can provide as gentle a terrain as your Surrey or Kent. And what's more, all with regular meets. In which case we can jot you down a nice figure for San Marco as well. Now how about Ruthven?'
`Not proved yet, but Rusty—but your uncle was very hopeful about him, he has excellent connections.'
`Then I'll strike an average figure for Ruthven.' William Bower did so.
He took out his pipe, called for more coffee, then said : `That brings us to the second consignment.'
`The three D's.'
`Three D's ... oh yes, of course.'
For a few moments he attended to the ritual of packing, tapping and lighting, then he began.
`First of all, Dotsy ...' He looked rather narrowly at Jane, though it could have been the smoke, she thought. `We'll leave her last,' he said. 'Now, Devil May Care.'
`A winner,' came in Jane enthusiastically. She spoke proudly of how a young jockey at one of their northern
meetings had called in delight as he had raced Devil May Care to first past the post the day before his marriage : `You've just given me my wedding present, you fine boy!'
`He's tough, too,' she praised, 'and not at all temperamental I think Devil could even win one of your red earth races.' As he jotted this down, Jane apologized a little uncomfortably, 'I seem to be saying all good things. I hope you don't think it's to—well
`To pop up the price? No, I don't think that. Anyway' ... an oblique look ... 'Dandy would bring the price down. Miss Sidney' ... before Jane could indignantly interrupt ... 'why in tarnation did my uncle consign Dandy?'
Dandy's a darling !' she exploded. 'Dandy ... why, Dandy
`All right then, you love Dandy. Things like that happen. I believe it's what they call a mutual look And why are you looking at me like that?'
`Because—well, Rusty used to say that. He said if there's a mutual look it will be all right.'
A silence had come between them. Jane, embarrassed, kept her eyes to her cup.
`Did my uncle explain that phenomenon?' William Bower broke the silence.
`He said,' Jane said a little unevenly, 'it was something between the two of you and you two only.'
`I see. Do you know where it comes from?'
`The—look?'
`Yes.'
`No, I don't.'
`A man called John Keble wrote it. He said :
"Sweet is the smile of home, the mutual look, When hearts are of each other sure."'
`I see,' said Jane.
He nodded. There was another silence. Then:
`But why in tarnation, why in Betsy, did he send Dandy?' the man exploded. 'The boy—I mean the horse
has nothing. Oh, you've prettied him up. I've no doubt you've spent more hours on him than you have on yourself. All very nice, Miss Sidney, but when I jot Dandy down on the statement the profit goes down as well.'
There were so many rejoinders rising up in Jane. she could find voice for none of them. At last she almost croaked : 'All right then, get on to Dotsy. You said you'd deal with her last.'
`Can you take it?' he asked carefully.
`Take what?'
`What I'm going to tell you ... and what I think you don't know.'
Now Jane did look at William Bower. But she did not speak.
`I think mind you, I saw her only briefly in Sydney
... she's having a foal.'
`She is not !'
`And how would you know?'
`I'd know like I do with any of my girls, I mean—' `Skip that. Keep on with how you'd know.'
`Well, she's agile.'
`She's early yet.'
`Slim.'
`The same reply to that.'
`I—I've watched her.'
`You'd want eyes at the back of your head. Look' ... a little more kindly ... 'I could be wrong. Anyway, we'll leave it for Tim and the experts. When Rodden's over, I'll ask him.'
It was just too much. Jane got up and left him to settle the bill. When he came out she was sitting in the car waiting to resume the journey.
He got in beside her.
`Not to be upset, Miss Sidney,' he tossed, 'it happens all the time. You can't cheat nature. Not' ... getting once more into the coastal road traffic ... 'after there's been a mutual look.'
'Can we just have the final figures without any com-ments?' Jane asked a few miles further on; it had taken her all that time to compose herself.
'Yes. The comment merely was made to prepare you for the lower sum you must be prepared to accept because of Dandy, who would line no pockets, also because of Dotsy, condition uncertain but suspected, and sire unknown.'
`I still don't believe you.'
'You may be right at that, it's not always easy to tell.' 'Also, if it's true, Rusty would know.'
'Then we must write and ask him, mustn't we?' He said it fatuously, knowing, she thought resentfully, that it would irritate her. 'The amount I've jotted down comes to ...' He told her a sum that positively rocked Jane. Never would she have put the value so high.
'One fifth of it would be ' he went on.
She disbelieved him for several minutes. It couldn't be that much! She couldn't be that rich. He must simply want to be rid of her.
'Mr. Bower,' she broke in indignantly, `there's no need for bribery, no call for you to try to buy me out. If I wanted to go, I'd go, but not all the money in the world would hurry me.' She stuck out her bottom lip and finished, 'And won't hurry me !'
'I'm stating a correct sum, Australian-wise,' he said flatly. 'Perhaps you would get less in England where there's plenty offering, but out here where the top class commodity is more rare, you can almost name your own reward. So' ... negotiating a bend ... 'you don't want to leave yet?'
'I want to last out until the two contingents are settled, and I know that that's what Rusty wants.'
'All right then, we'll drop it. It was your idea, anyway, for me to give you a figure.'
'You've given it. Thank you.' Jane turned her head from him to look outside. They were still in the country, but closer settled country now. The space between the villages was considerably less. In half an hour the small towns
seemed to have merged on each other to form an endless city.
`Yes, we're in Sydney,' Bower said when she commented on this, 'the outskirts now, but we'll make the hotel in a quarter of an hour.'
`What about the horses?'
`They can wait till tomorrow. But it will be an early tomorrow; we'll be taking off at daylight, and making it an easy trip.' He ran into a snarl of city traffic and did not speak again until they arrived and a porter collected the car to garage it, and, at Bower's indication, Jane followed another porter upstairs.
She was not tired, for it had been an easy transit; tomorrow with that 'we'll be taking off at daylight' of his, and the day after, should prove more strenuous journeys. She knew that William Bower had been hinting that she should rest tonight, and that any hint from Bower was tantamount to an order, but she had not seen Sydney before, only passed through it, and this fact as well as the rather exciting fact that she stood for more money than she had thought (even with the debits of Dotsy and Dandy, or so Bower said) made it impossible for Jane to stand still now. After she had showered and changed, she went to gaze down from the window to the city traffic below, at the canyons of streets between towering buildings, at a snippet of harbour that a slat of space separating two skyscrapers awarded her, and then, irresistibly, she turned and went down.
Inner Sydney was not such a big city, she found, since regional shopping and suburban spending had taken away from it, but the squares she did cover were exciting and comprehensive. Besides every London lin
e she had loved, there was a subtle Eastern influence here, also the charm of flimsier, more tropical wear.
The fact that she stood for more money even though she did not have it in hand, made Jane more reckless than usual. She splurged on a pure silk blouse, a phial of brown
boronia perfume and a wind-up jolly swagman who sang `Waltzing Matilda' in a squeaky voice. Rusty would smile over him, she thought.
When she emerged from the souvenir shop, Jane knew she was lost. It did not bother her, for her hotel was a popular one and she could always ask ... but what did bother her was William Bower walking towards her. She determined not to let him know she had not marked the way she had come.
`So you've decided to sell out your fifth after all.' He was eyeing her purchases.
`I do have some money of my own,' she answered coolly. `Finished now?'
`Yes.'
`Where to next?'
She thought hard. She wanted to see the quay and the Opera House. But she also wanted first to deposit her purchases She took a chance and said : 'Oh, I'm just looking around,' and went down a side street.
He let her go, and it rather surprised Jane. He wouldn't want her company, she knew that, but it did appear to amuse him to have her by him for baiting purposes.
She hastened her steps ... then stopped, annoyed. It was a blind street. She turned back and found William Bower waiting for her, a grin on his face.
`Lost, aren't you?'
No, of course not. I mean ... that is ...'
`Lost. Why won't you women note little details such as first turn to the left, second to the right? This way.' He barely touched her elbow with cool fingertips.
`Where are we going?'
`Where were you, apart from that looking around?' `Well, I have these things—but I did think the harbour '
She had barely got the words out than he had her in a store again, buying a carrier bag. Together they put in the parcels, then they took a bus to the quay. The Manly
The Mutual Look Page 9